Nilo Peçanha

For the municipality in Bahia, Brazil, see Nilo Peçanha, Bahia.
His Excellency
Nilo Peçanha
7th President of Brazil
In office
14 June 1909 – 15 November 1910
Vice President None
Preceded by Afonso Pena
Succeeded by Hermes da Fonseca
6th Vice President of Brazil
In office
15 November 1906 – 14 July 1909
President Afonso Pena
Preceded by Afonso Pena
Succeeded by Venceslau Brás
Member of the Federal Senate
In office
3 May 1921 – 31 March 1924
Constituency Rio de Janeiro
In office
3 May 1912 – 31 December 1914
Constituency Rio de Janeiro
In office
3 May 1903 – 31 December 1903
Constituency Rio de Janeiro
Minister of External Relations
In office
7 May 1917 – 15 November 1918
President Venceslau Brás
Preceded by Lauro Müller
Succeeded by Domício da Gama
9th and 13th Governor of Rio de Janeiro
In office
31 December 1914 – 7 May 1917
Vice Governor Francisco Guimarães
Preceded by Oliveira Botelho
Succeeded by Francisco Guimarães
In office
31 December 1903 – 1 November 1906
Vice Governor Oliveira Botelho
Preceded by Quintino Bocaiúva
Succeeded by Oliveira Botelho
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
3 May 1890 – 31 December 1902
Constituency Rio de Janeiro
Personal details
Born (1867-10-02)2 October 1867
Campos, Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil
Died 31 March 1924(1924-03-31) (aged 56)
Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Nationality Brazilian
Political party Rio Republican Party
Spouse(s) Anita de Castro Belisário de Sousa

Nilo Procópio Peçanha (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈnilu proˈkɔpju peˈsaɲɐ]; 2 October 1867 – 31 March 1924) was a Brazilian politician. He was Governor of Rio de Janeiro State (1903–1906), then elected Vice-President of Brazil in 1906. He assumed the presidency in 1909 following the death of President Afonso Pena and served until 1910. He was disputably the only mulatto president of Brazil.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Biography

Nilo Peçanha was born to Sebastião de Sousa Peçanha, a baker, and Joaquina Anália de Sá Freire, the descendent of a wealthy and noble family from northern Rio de Janeiro Province. He was one of seven siblings (five boys and two girls). His family lived in a state of poverty in the remote and poor neighborhood of Morro do Coco, Campos dos Goytacazes, and moved to the downtown area when Peçanha started elementary education.

Nilo Peçanha at home in an amateur photo

He was frequently described as being a mulatto[2][4][5][9] (a name for people of white and black ancestry) and often ridiculed in the press for his skin color.[1][7][8] During his youth, the local Campos dos Goytacazes social elite alluded to him as the "mestiço do Morro do Coco" (the half-breed from Morro do Coco district).[6] In 1921, when he ran for the Presidency of Republic, letters falsely attributed to the other candidate Artur Bernardes were published by the press and caused a political crisis because they insulted both the former president Marshal Hermes da Fonseca and also Peçanha, another former president, claiming he was a mulatto. Gilberto Freyre mentioned his "mulatismo" in Brazilian politics as the same that prevailed in Brazilian soccer.[11] According to some scholars, his presidential photographs were touched up to whiten his dark skin.[7][12][13]

Some scholars assert that, despite his tez escura (dark skin color), Nilo Peçanha always hid his black origins, and to this day his descendants and family have denied that he was a mulatto.[14] The official biography written by a relative Celso Peçanha[10] does not mention his racial origins, but another later biography [2] does so, thus some scholars express doubts.[3] In any case, his origins were very humble: he used to claim that he had been raised on day-old bread and paçoca (cassava flour grounded with dried beef).[6]

After finishing his primary studies in his home city, Peçanha went on to study at the Law Schools of São Paulo and Recife, where he earned his degree. As a student, he supported both the campaign to abolish slavery and the establishment of the Republic.

Peçanha was married to Ana de Castro Belisário Soares de Sousa, also known as "Anita", the descendant of an aristocratic and wealthy family from his birth city. She was a daughter of lawyer João Belisário Soares de Souza and of Ana Rachel Ribeiro de Castro, who was herself a daughter of the Viscount of Santa Rita, one of the richest men in northern Rio de Janeiro State. The marriage was a social scandal since the bride escaped her house to marry her poor and "mulatto" groom, despite his status as a promising young politician.[6]

He worked as a lawyer and a university teacher in the Faculdade Livre de Direito do Rio de Janeiro.

Peçanha started his formal political career as an elected member of the first Republican Constituent Assembly in 1890. His political career advanced rapidly as a protégé of Campos Sales, who became President in 1898.[2] In 1903 he was successively elected Senator and then President (Governor) of the state of Rio de Janeiro, remaining in the latter position until 1906, when he was elected vice-president under President Afonso Pena.

Pena died in 1909 while still in office and Peçanha assumed the presidency promising a government of Paz e Amor (Peace and Love). He was 41 years old, the youngest Brazilian president up until then.[15]

Nilo Peçanha in a postage stamp

His presidential government had many political troubles and Nilo Peçanha proved himself a man of wit and courage. The balance of power of the Brazilian República Velha (Old Republic) was a compromise of the governing elites of the states of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The deceased president, Afonso Pena, was elected with the support of this political alliance, but Peçanha assumed the presidency through being his vice-president and friction between the state oligarchies intensified. His government was also marked by friction with José Gomes Pinheiro Machado, the most powerful political leader of the Conservative Republican Party. Rui Barbosa started a run for the presidency promoting the "Campanha Civilista" (civilist campaign) against the Marshal Hermes da Fonseca, and attracted the opposition and discontent of the military. Federal intervention was required in the government of the Rio de Janeiro and Amazonas states.[15]

Peçanha was a man of sharp political wit who carved a practical and non-doctrinaire course between the positivists and the idealistic adherents of a pure Republican system that fought each other during the first decades of Brazilian Republic.[2] He was renowned for anticipating all the movements of his adversaries and achieving good political outcomes even when the odds were not favorable.[15]

During his presidency, Peçanha created the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, as well as the Indian Protection Service (SPI) and inaugurated the first system of technical schools in Brazil. He also began a basic sanitation program in the Baixada Fluminense region. He fought the excesses of workers in the public service and the high government expenditures that caused the elevation of taxes.[15]

Nilo Peçanha´s last official photo

At the end of his mandate, he returned to the Senate and two years later was again elected President (Governor) for the state of Rio de Janeiro. He gave up this post in 1917 to take up the position of Minister of Foreign Relations and during his rule Brazil declared war against the Central Powers in World War I. In 1918, he was again elected to the Senate.

In 1921 he was a leader of the Republican Reaction Movement which had the goal of championing the politics of liberalism against those of the state oligarchies. His run for the presidency was supported by the state governments of Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco, and also by a large part of the military. The campaign was fierce with mutual attacks and the famous case of letters falsely attributed to candidate Artur Bernardes which insulted the military and the former president Marshal Hermes da Fonseca. Brazil was divided and despite the strong support, Peçanha was defeated by Artur Bernardes, the pro-government candidate in the presidential election of 1922.

Peçanha died in 1924 in Rio de Janeiro, retired from political life.

Ministers

See also

References

  1. 1 2 BEATTIE, Peter M. The Tribute of Blood: Army, Honor, Race, and Nation in Brazil, 1864–1945. Duke University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8223-2743-0, ISBN 978-0-8223-2743-1. pp. 7. (visited 3 September 2008)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 GIFFIN, Donald W. The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Aug., 1964), pp. 437–439. Review of TINOCO, Brígido. A vida de Nilo Peçanha. Coleção Documentos Brasileiros, Livraria José Olympio Editora, RJ, 1962. (visited 3 September 2008)
  3. 1 2 MÉTRAUX, Alfred. Brazil, Land of Harmony for all Races?. UNESCO Courier, Volume IV, no 4 April 1951; pp. 3 (visited 3 September 2008)
  4. 1 2 ANDRADE, Manuel Correia de. A Civilização Açucareira. Recife:Biblioteca On-line do SEBRAE-PE. pp. 3 (visited 8 August 2008)
  5. 1 2 CAMPOS, Diego de Souza Araújo. Um Estudo sobre a Escravidão em suas Relações com a Hierarquia Social: Heranças e Particularidades da Instituição Escravocrata. Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciências Sociais. Rio de Janeiro: PUC-Rio, setembro de 2007. pp. 61 (visited 2 September 2008)
  6. 1 2 3 4 VASCONCELLOS, Francisco de. As Grandes Damas do Rio Negro na República Velha in Petrópolis:Tribuna de Petrópolis; 20 May 2001 (visited 9 August 2008)
  7. 1 2 3 LUSTOSA, Isabel. As Trapaças da Sorte: Ensaios de História Política e de História Cultural. Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG, 314 pages, 2004. Reviewed by Adelto Gonçalves. Elite "branca" no Brasil. Storm Magazine (visited 3 September 2008)
  8. 1 2 CARNEIRO, Cleverson Ribas. Mendes Fradique e seu Método Confuso: Sátira, Boemia e Reformismo Conservador. Tese de Doutorado em Letras. Curitiba: Universidade Federal do Paraná, 2008. pp. 148 (visited 3 September 2008)
  9. 1 2 PAIXÂO, Marcelo Jorge de Paula. Crítica da Razão Culturalista: relações raciais e a construção das desigualdades sociais no Brasil. Tese de Doutorado em Sociologia. Rio de Janeiro:Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro, abril de 2005. pp. 296 (visited 3 September 2008)
  10. 1 2 NETO, Manoel. O Negro no Maranhão. São Luís: Clara Comunicação e Editora Ltda. 2004, p.73-79 apud Manoel Neto. Ninguém quer ser negro. Suplemento Cultural e Literário JP Guesa Errante, Ano III, Edição 82 (visited 3 September 2008)
  11. 1 2 FREYRE, Gilberto. Foot-ball mulato, in Diário de Pernambuco, 17-6-1938 apud MARANHÂO, Tiago. Apolíneos e dionisíacos — o papel do futebol no pensamento de Gilberto Freyre a respeito do «povo brasileiro», in Análise Social, vol. XLI (179), 2006, pp. 441 (visited 3 September 2008)
  12. ↑ Dagoberto José Fonseca, anthropology professor of Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) of Araraquara. In: Painéis resgatam negros ilustres, 'branqueados' pela história (visited 3 September 2008)
  13. ↑ Muniz Sodré, journalist, writer and professor of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). In: Fabio Gomes. Muniz Sodré e a Cultura do Sentir. Brasileirinho, a sua página de Música Brasileira (visited 3 September 2008)
  14. ↑ NASCIMENTO, Abdias; NASCIMENTO, Elisa Larkin. O negro e o Congresso brasileiro. In: MUNANGA, Kabengele. (Org.) História do negro no Brasil. v.1 Brasília:Fundação Palmares, 2004 apud DUARTE, Rebeca Oliveira. Nos Alicerces do Mundo: O dilema e a dialética na afirmação da identidade negra. Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciência Política. Recife: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, agosto de 2006; pág. 25, and also apud Relatório de Desenvolvimento Humano – Racismo, Pobreza e Violência – Brasil 2005. Brasília: PNUD Brasil, pág. 28 (visited 3 September 2008)
  15. 1 2 3 4 Galeria de Presidentes do Período da República Velha (1889–1930) (visited 4 September 2008)

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nilo Peçanha.
Political offices
Preceded by
Afonso Pena		 Vice President of Brazil
1906–1909 		Succeeded by
Venceslau Brás
Preceded by
Afonso Pena		 Vice President of Brazil
1909–1910 		Succeeded by
Hermes da Fonseca
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